Three Facts That Will Change How You Think About Pain

Pain is described by many as a hurtful experience related to tissue damage, but stopping at that would only explain a small aspect of this complex experience. Rather, it is better to think of pain as the ultimate output. It scrutinizes multiple inputs including but not limited to hurt or damage. We now understand that emotional state, memories of past experiences, context, body location, and cultural beliefs are also relevant inputs. The combination of these is often required to create something deemed as pain and it is explained best by Melzack’s Neuromatrix Theory of Pain. His theory describes pain as being comprised of three domains. The somatosensory domain involves the sensation that our nerves pick up and send to our brain for processing.1 The cognitive domain deals with the meaning behind the pain, and relates it to past experiences as well as potential solutions.1 Lastly, the emotional domain relates to the attitude you have towards your pain.1 Keeping these things in mind, here are three facts that will completely change how you think about the experience we call pain:

1. Hurt Does Not Always Equal Damage

A recurring theme regarding the perception of pain is that hurt equates to the level of damage someone is experiencing. However, what if you have an awful onset of lower back pain but then an X-ray and MRI turns up negative? Surprisingly or not this is a common finding in literature for many injuries, just take a look at this talk by Peter O’Sullivan, professor of musculoskeletal physiotherapy at Curtin University. Pain is too complex of a phenomenon to be able to say that if “x” amount of damage occurred to your tissue, then “y” amount of pain will be experienced. Nociception, which is the perception of harm or tissue damage is only one input. It is not always sufficient for a pain experience to occur. As we just mentioned, pain scrutinizes several relevant inputs along with nociception including emotional state, past experiences, context, body location, and cultural beliefs. For example, you can have tissue damage after an injury but if you do not pay attention to it nor are you in constant fear of it, then can it really be painful? What we do know about pain is that it is a helpful message the brain receives about our bodies from a biological standpoint. Pain gives us information about the healing state after an injury and warns us to avoid certain things that can cause more harm. These adaptive features of pain are important during the acute (early) phases of an injury. When pain becomes chronic (lasting more than 3 months), it loses its adaptive qualities. Chronic pain is an impairment that can affect one’s ability to function in normal activities. Interestingly enough, it almost always has a strong psychosocial influence.

Click page 2 to read about how chronic pain and depression are biologically linked

It’s the same routine every time. Your training was just filled with blood, sweat, and tears – sometimes one more than the others. You sit down and instinctively grab your shaker cup that’s filled with all your post-workout powders. What’s left in your huge jug of water is thrown into the cup, and you shake that baby with all the energy that’s left. Voila, that summarizes most people’s post-workout nutrition in a nutshell. Not a great deal of thought

I kid you not, 80-90% of people resolve their low back pain in 3 months with OR without a therapist laying a finger on them. This is when most people with low back pain give me a look of disbelief (sometimes even more), but it’s something we see clinically. Of course, there are special cases as well as ways to speed up the process and prevent the pain from coming back. If you have neurological symptoms such as accompanying pain that shoots down your leg, that can last as long as 2 years before you experience any relief.

From an anatomical standpoint the problem lies in your pelvic floor health which I’ll explain in more detail shortly. However, if I told you the purpose of a squat is not actually for working out you’d probably think I’m crazy. For years it’s been a staple in every lifter’s workout assuming they don’t skip leg day. Days of agony from stiff legs after a good squat may seem like further evidence against my point. Hear me out though. Before the invention of the toilet, how do you think we pooped?

Watching George St-Pierre (MMA legend) popping shark cartilage pills was the first time I obsessed over glucosamine. His analogy when he brought up shark cartilage was that your body is like a car. Athletes like him treat their bodies like Ferraris meaning they need premium fuel. After hearing this I thought man, I’m at least a ford mustang, why haven’t I used this savage supplement before? I wouldn’t be surprised if you found glucosamine in a convenience store nowadays although it may not be from a shark.

Little did I know how popular this question was until I was in the process of googling it. Without even finishing the phrase “Do I need a pe” Google automatically gave me “Do I need a personal trainer?” and not “Do I need a pet?” as a drop-down option. Quite frankly, this made me realize that this question is on the mind of almost anyone deciding to make a change for their health. So I began looking deeper into the search results for this question and they were pretty underwhelming.

Ever stuck for an energy-packed snack before squeezing in a quick workout? Between working the 9 to 5 grind, picking up the kids from the sitter, and whipping up a quick dinner you tend to forget to think about the nutrition you need before a workout. Did you know that dates are the powerhouse of all fruits? Dates are also traditionally used to break fast during the month of Ramadan! They are a high source of natural sugars such as sucrose, fructose and glucose; making them great for an afternoon pick-me-up!

After speaking to hundreds of clients in Mississauga about their training injuries over the past year, I realized that nearly everyone used cold application differently. A popular misconception is that you are reaping all the benefits from icing as long as you apply some form of it to any type of injury. Not only can incorrect application of ice prove to be ineffective, it may even do the opposite of what was intended and become damaging to the body. Yes, there are some inherent physical differences in people that call for more or less cold application. Apart from that research has presented ideal parameters including temperature, duration, method, and purpose that everyone should be aware.

As I type this article, I become conscious of how I position my wrists due to the topic at hand (pun definitely intended). Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is relevant to anyone who uses a keyboard a lot, plays a musical instrument, or uses small tools on a daily basis repeatedly. Around 10% of people are either dealing with some form of CTS or are in the process of developing it in North America.

Let’s face it, many of us suffer from shin splints and have no idea what to do with it. Running is perfectly fine until a dull shin pain slowly creeps in on us and boom, it’s here to stay until further notice. Whether you consult a fitness trainer or search online for treatment options you will often be told to rest when symptoms are bad, and you should. My problem with rest is it doesn’t address the cause of injury.

Let’s have a little lesson about human anatomy when it comes to mobility and stability. Which joint in the human body do you think can operate and move in the most directions using the most range of motion possible? If you guessed the hip, then you are on the right track, but not quite there. As you will find out from Mississauga personal training, the shoulder joint, also known as the glenohumeral joint offers the body the most mobility.